Loop device for mounting on boat

ABSTRACT

An eye or loop assembly for forming a connection between the boat deck and boat bow or stern through the boat hull in which the eye or loop is in the form of a pair of bow-eyes with legs extending completely through the deck and bow or stern and with an inextensible adjustable tension member connected to each boweye inside the hull and stationarily anchored inside the hull of the boat. The arrangement provides for division of the load imposed on the eye or loop thereby greatly reducing the possibility of damaging the boat deck.

ijnited States Patent [1 1 Gillespie [4 1 Feb. 4, 1975 LOOP DEVICE FORMOUNTING ON BOAT [76] Inventor: Herman L. Gillespie, 2415 Dellwood Dr.,Fort Wayne, 1nd. 46803 [22] Filed: Sept. 17, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 397,989

[52] US. Cl. 114/218 [51] Int. Cl B63b 21/04 [58] Field of Search114/218, 217, 51,50,164,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,269,523 6/1918 Cheney114/51 1,664,281 3/1928 Baine 114/51 3,765,365 10/1973 Gillespie 114/218Primary Examiner-George E. A. Halvosa Assistant Examiner-Charles E.Frankfort Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Albert L. Jeffers; Roger M. Rickert57 ABSTRACT 10 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures LOOP DEVICE FOR MOUNTING ONBOAT The present invention relates to boats, and is particularlyconcerned with an arrangement for providing a boat with an eye or loopto which a hook can be connected as, for example, for drawing the boatout of the water. Such loops and hooks can serve other purposes as well,as, for example, the connecting of the boat to a load which it is towingor to another boat which it is towing.

The provision of loops and eyes of the nature referred to on boat decksis known but, heretofore, the device has been anchored to the boat decksand stems so that all load imposed thereon was, in turn, transferred toa limited region of the boat hull, thus. introducing the possibility ofdamaging the boat deck. It has been attempted to provide reinforcementinternally of the hull for such eyes or loops, but such reinforcementhas not, heretofore, been satisfactory for the reason that it did notalways provide adequate support and sometimes tended to become loosethus losing its effectiveness.

With the foregoing in mind, the primary object of the present inventionis the provision of an eye or loop on a boat deck and connected to aneye or loop disposed on the bow or stern being especially adapted forengagement by a hook or cable or the like in which the possibility thatheavy loads imposed on the eye or loop will damage the boat deck iseliminated, or greatly re duced.

Another object is the provision of an eye or loop or the like affixed toa boat deck for engagement by a hook or'cable or the like in which theload imposed on the eye or loop is distributed within the boat hullthereby eliminating the possibility that a limited region of the boatdeck will be stressed to an extremely high degree.

Another object is the provision of an eye or loop on a boat deck whichis supported internally of the hull by adjustable reinforcing meansconnected to an eye or loop disposed on the bow or stern and does nottend to become loose or ineffective over a period of time.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, aneye or loop is provided on a boat deck by the use of a bow-eye, the legsof which extend through the boat deck. Nuts on the legs of the bow-eyeon opposite sides of the hull fix the bow-eye to the hull and,preferably, escutcheon plates or the like are interposed between thenuts and the opposite sides of the boat hull.

The bow-eye thus mounted on the boat deck is provided with a reinforcingsupport inside the boat hull in the form of an inextensible adjustabletension member, preferably, a chain, which has one end fixed to thebow-eye on the deck and the other end stationarily anchored to asuitable point on the bow or stern and which suitable point, in fact,consists of the inner end of another bow-eye.

The exact nature of the present invention will become more clearlyapparent upon reference to the following detailed specification taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. l is a fragmentary perspective view of a boat showing eyes or loopsaccording to the present invention on the forward part of the deck andbow.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view showing the manner in which a bow-eye isprovided with an adjustable reinforcing support internally of the boathull.

FIG. 3 shows, diagrammatically, a different arrangement for securing thebow-eye in position.

FIG. 4 is a view like FIG. 3 but shows a cable in place of the chain.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an eye bolt for use with the FIGS. 3 and4 arrangements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings somewhatmore in detail, FIG. 1 shows a boat having a hull l0 and projecting fromthe bow ll is at least one bow-eye or loop 12. In FIG. 1, a furtherbow-eye or loop 14 is mounted on the deck 13 of the boat, but thebow-eye 12 will serve as an example for the present invention. The eye12 is provided so that the boat can be towed or so that a hook or cablecan be connected to the bow-eye 14 for drawing the boat out of thewater.

Boats of the nature illustrated are often quite heavy and when pullingthe boat out of thewater extreme stress can be developed on the boatdeck in the region where the eye or loop 14 is anchored. I-Ieretofore,this has sometimes led to breaking of the boat deck which is, of course,quite expensive and most undesirable.

According to the present invention, the occurrence of damage to the deckis substantially eliminated by re inforcing the bow-eye or loopinternally of the hull so that pulling loads exerted on the bow-eye orloop of an amount sufficient to cause deflection of the deck will betransferred to another portion of the boat structure thereby preventingthe developing of damaging stess in the boat deck area.

This is advantageously accomplished as shown in FIG. 2 wherein thebow-eye or loops 12 and 14 will be seen to consist of respectivebow-eyes. The bow-eye forming the eye 12 has threaded legs which extendthrough a first escutcheon plate 16 outside the hull and a secondescutcheon plate 18 inside the hull with nuts 20 being provided forfixedly clamping the plates against the bow 11 and also fixing thebow-eye in the plates.

Similarly, the bow-eye forming the eye or loop 14 is provided with anapertured escutcheon plate 22 on the deck and escutcheon plate 24 insidethe hull through which the legs of the bow-eye extend with nuts 26fixedly clamping the bow-eye and plates in position.

According to the present invention, each bow-eye is provided withfurther plate means, 28 in respect to the bow-eye making up the eye l2,and 30 in respect of the bow-eye 14 making up the eye plate means. Platemeans 30 is fixedly clamped in position against the aforesaid nuts 26 byclamp nuts 32 while there is carried on the plate means 30 an anchoringeye-bolt 34. The eye-bolt 34 has a threaded shank and nuts 36 thereonfix the eye-bolt 34 to plate means 30. Plate means 30 is preferablyheavier than the above mentioned escutcheon plates but mayadvantageously be formed by a stack of the escutcheon plates.

Similarly, mounted on the legs of the bow-eye making up the eye 12 isthe aforementioned plate means 28 held in place by the nuts 38. There isa further anchoring eye-bolt 40 attached to plate :means 28 by the nut42.

Extending between eye-bolts 34 and 40 is a length of chain 42 whichforms a tension element 41.

In practice, after the bow-eyes are fixed in place in the structure ofthe boat, preferably with the closed outer ends of the bow-eyesprojecting outwardly from the boat hull, the reinforcing deviceconsisting of chain 42, eye-bolts 34 and 40, and plate means 28 and 30is put in place. The eye-bolts may be initially adjusted in the platemeans 28 and 30 and thereafter fixed in place, as by peening over theends of the eye-bolts and thereafter the desired tension is developed inchain 42'by final adjustment of nuts 38 to place proper tension on thechain 42.

These nuts may also be locked to the respective threaded legs of thepertaining bow-eye, as by using self-locking nuts or the like.

In any case, once installed, the tension element 41 will remain taut andwill not become loose and can be depended on to transmit substantialloads imposed on either of the bow eyes to the other whereby no limitedregion of the boat structure is stressed to an extremely high degree.

It should be noted that the legs 7 and 9 of the bow eye 12, and the legsand 17 of the bow eye 14 are closely spaced to each other. Thisarrangement of spacing is particularly advantageous in that when a loadis placed on bow eye 14 and force is transmitted to the chain 42 throughthe eye bolts 34 and 40 the plates 30 and 28 will not bend or bucklebecause of the relatively small spacing 25 between the legs of the boweye and the eye bolt. The arrangement as disclosed provides for adivision of the load imposed upon the bow eye wherein loads of up to6,000 pounds can be obtained on each bow eye without damaging the boatdeck.

In FIG. 3, a bow-eye 50 on deck 52 and a bow-eye 54 on bow 56 areinterconnected by a tension element in the form of chain 58. The eyebolt pertaining to boweye 50, however, has the eye portion 60 bent offfrom the shank portion 62 so the eye portion is in alignment with chain58. An angle of bend off of about 45 is suitable. The strength of theeye bolt to resist tension in the chain is greatly increased by thebending off of the eye portion whereby the strength of the entire deviceis increased.

The eye bolt is shown in perspective in FIG. 5.

In FIG. 4, the tension element is in the form of a cable 64 which hasone end entrained through the eye of straight eye bolt 66 pertaining tobow-eye 68 in the bow of the boat and the other entrained through theeye of bent off eye bolt pertaining to bow-eye 69 in the boat deck.

The free ends of cable 64 are clamped to the cable by cable clamps 70.

Modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

I. A device for mounting on a boat and providing at least one loop forengagement by a hook, said device comprising: a first bow eye havinglegs adapted to extend through the deck of the boat, nuts for threadingon the legs for connecting the bow eye to the deck, a tension member,first means connecting one end of said tension member to said first boweye legs inside the hull of the boat, a second bow eye having legsadapted for extending through the boat and further nuts for theading onthe legs of said second bow eye to connect the said bow eye to the boat,second means connecting the other end of said tension member to saidsecond bow eye legs inside the hull of the boat whereby a tension loadimposed on a bow eye outside the boat will be borne, at least in part,by said tension member.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein said first and second meansincludes plates adapted to be fixed to the legs of said bow eyes insidethe boat, anchor members on said plates, and the opposite ends of saidtension member being connected to said anchor members.

3. A device according to claim 2 in which said anchor members compriseeye-bolts.

4. A device according to claim 2 in which said anchor members compriseeye-bolts and the position of at least one of said eye-bolts beingadjustable for drawing said tension member taut when the said device isassembled with a boat hull.

5. A device according to claim 1 in which said tension member is in theform of a chain.

6. A device according to claim 1 in which said first and second meanscomprise eye bolts having eyes for connection to said tension member andshanks operatively connected to the respective bow eyes, said eyes beingdisposed in a common plane extending from the juncture of one said eyewith the respective shank to the juncture of the other said eye with therespective shank.

7. A device according to claim 1 in which said first and second meanscomprise eye bolts having shanks operatively connected to said bow eyes,an eye portion fixed to ends of said shanks, and at least one eyeportion extending angularly to the respective shank at such an anglethat the eye portions and the tension element are disposed in a singleplane passing through the junctures of said eye portions with therespective shanks.

8. A device according to claim 1 wherein at least one of said bow eyesis adjustable to draw said tension member taut between said bow eyes.

9. A device for mounting on a boat having a hull, a first member on theoutside of said hull forming a loop for engagement by a hook, saidmember including a part extending through the hull to the inside, meansfixedly connecting said member to said hull, a second member on theoutside of said hull and also forming a loop for engagement by a hook,said second member also having a part extending through said hull to theinside and means fixedly connecting said second member to the hull, atension member inside said hull, first means including an anchor elementconnecting one end of said tension member to said part of said firstmember, and second means including an anchor element connecting theother end of said tension member to said part of said second member,said tension mem' her being taut between the ends thereof whereby loadsimposed on either loop outside the hull of a magnitude sufficient tocause deflection of the hull will be borne, at'least in part, by saidtension member.

10. A device for mounting on a boat according to claim 9 wherein saidsecond means is adjustable to draw said tension member taut.

1. A device for mounting on a boat and providing at least one loop forengagement by a hook, said device comprising: a first bow eye havinglegs adapted to extend through the deck of the boat, nuts for threadingon the legs for connecting the bow eye to the deck, a tension member,first means connecting one end of said tension member to said first boweye legs inside the hull of the boat, a second bow eye having legsadapted for extending through the boat and further nuts for theading onthe legs of said second bow eye to connect the said bow eye to the boat,second means connecting the other end of said tension member to saidsecond bow eye legs inside the hull of the boat whereby a tension loadimposed on a bow eye outside the boat will be borne, at least in part,by said tension member.
 2. A device according to claim 1 wherein saidfirst and second means includes plates adapted to be fixed to the legsof said bow eyes inside the boat, anchor members on said plates, and theopposite ends of said tension member being connected to said anchormembers.
 3. A device according to claim 2 in which said anchor memberscomprise eye-bolts.
 4. A device according to claim 2 in which saidanchor members comprise eye-bolts and the position of at least one ofsaid eye-bolts being adjustable for drawing said tension member tautwhen the said device is assembled with a boat hull.
 5. A deviceaccording to claim 1 in which said tension member is in the form of achain.
 6. A device according to claim 1 in which said first and secondmeans comprise eye bolts having eyes for connection to said tensionmember and shanks operatively connected to the respective bow eyes, saideyes being disposed in a common plane extending from the juncture of onesaid eye with the respective shank to the juncture of the other said eyewith the respective shank.
 7. A device according to claim 1 in whichsaid first and second means comprise eye bolts having shanks operativelyconnected to said bow eyes, an eye portion fixed to ends of said shanks,and at least one eye portion extending angularly to the respective shankat such an angle that the eye portions and the tension element aredisposed in a single plane passing through the junctures of said eyeportions with the respective shanks.
 8. A device according to claim 1wherein at least one of said bow eyes is adjustable to draw said tensionmember taut between said bow eyes.
 9. A device for mounting on a boathaving a hull, a first member on the outside of said hull forming a loopfor engagement by a hook, said member including a part extending throughthe hull to the inside, means fixedly connecting said member to saidhull, a second member on the outside of said hull and also forming aloop for engagement by a hook, said second member also having a partextending through said hull to the inside and means fixedly connectingsaid second member to the hull, a tension member inside said hull, firstmeans including an anchor element connecting one end of said tensionmember to said part of said first member, and second means including ananchor element connecting the other end of said tension member to saidpart of said second member, said tension member being taut between theends thereof whereby loads imposed on either loop outside the hull of amagnitude sufficient to cause deflection of the hull will be borne, atleast in part, by said tension member.
 10. A device for mounting on aboat according to claim 9 wherein said second means is adjustable todraw said tension member taut.